Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra yesterday against called on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to reinstate the illegal logging case filed against Don Salvador Benedicto Mayor Cynthia dela Cruz and her co-defendants that was dismissed by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez late last year.

Navarra, in a letter he sent to the President, thanked her for heeding his appeal on the de la Cruz case that he raised during her visit to Bacolod in November for the Southeast Asian Games.

The bishop said Environment Secretary Michael Defensor instructed Environment Regional Director Julian Amador to hold a dialog with him and it took place at his house in Bacolod City on Jan. 6.

Amador was represented by DENR Legal Counsel Virgilia Dioquino at the meeting.

"She apprised us of DENR's efforts to reverse the DOJ secretary's dismissal. She filed a motion for reconsideration and early resolution of the pending motion on Dec. 20, 2005 with DOJ Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez, emphasizing that there is probable cause against the accused," Navarra wrote the President.

Navarra told Arroyo that, together with the priests, the religious, the Catholic faithful and the concerned citizens of Negros Occidental he joins Dioquino's appeal to her "to reinstate the case by re-filing of the information which was previously withdrawn."

"Save for the courts, let no one pre-judge the case. Let the government prove the case against the accused in the courts of law of our republic. Let justice reign on the merits of evidences presented by both sides before a court magistrate," he said.

The people expect the president to take the side of the truth and uphold it, he added.

Bacolod Regional Trial Court Judge Rodney Bolunia late last year terminated the illegal logging case against de la Cruz, her husband Nehemias, and eight others.

Bolunia said he was acting on a motion to withdraw information filed by State Prosecutor Peter Ong on Sept. 22 following the dismissal of the complaint against the 10 for insufficiency of evidence by Gonzalez.

The DENR had alleged that sometime in 2001 Nehemias de la Cruz ordered the cutting of trees at Spur 8, Barangay Bagong Silang, Don Salvador Benedicto and that in June 201 together with his wife stockpiled 1,000 board feet of natural grown species and motorized wood cutting equipment in their residence at Barangay Igmayaan, Don Salvador Benedicto.

It was further alleged that up to July 2002 all of the accused were engaged in massive timber poaching in Barangay Bagong Silang, Don Salvador Benedicto, covering 22.8 hectares within the Northern Negros Forest Reserve involving 130,548 board feet of lumber worth P1.6 million.

Gonzalez had ruled that the complaint for violation of the Forestry Code of the Philippines had been dismissed because the testimonies of witnesses were never corroborated by evidence.*CPG

back to top